I was watching Home Alone, one of my favourite classic
movies, with my 8yro last week. I watched the movie several times before, but
this time, a scene stopped me thinking. The scene was capturing a desperate mother
trying to get to back her son who is home alone. She was at some airport trying
to get any seat on any flight to get back to Chicgo.
The airport staff didn’t help her much and then a guy
appeared out of nowhere and offered to help her.
The conversation went like:
Mother (angry): (Addressing airport staff) ...if
I have to sell my soul to the Devil himself...
...I am going to get home to my son.
Airport Staff: Ma'am, if there was anything...
Mother: Do it. Do anything.
Airport Staff: - I can get you a hotel room. -
What?
Polka guy: Can you excuse
us for a sec? Can I see you for a second, please?
Excuse us.
You got a little
bit of a dilemma.
We got a crisis
ourselves.
Allow me to
introduce myself. Gus Polinski.
Polka King of
the Midwest? (The mother looks puzzled at him)
The Kenosha
Kickers?
That's okay. I
thought you might have recognized...
I had a few hits
a few years ago. That's why I just...
"Polka,
Polka, Polka"? Polka, polka, polka
"Yamahoozie
Polka," a.k.a. "Kiss Me Polka"? "Polka Twist"?
Mother: These are songs?
Polka guy: Yeah. Yeah,
we... Some fairly big hits for us.
You know, in the
early '70s.
Yeah, we sold
about 623 copies of that.
Mother: - In Chicago?
Polka guy: No, Sheboygan. Very
big in Sheboygan.
Mother:
Did you say you could help?
Polka guy: Anyway, I'm
rambling on here. Our flight was canceled...
...so we're
gonna drive. See the guy in the yellow jacket over there?
He's gonna rent
us a nice big van to drive to Milwaukee.
Now, I heard you
had some problems getting to Chicago?
To see your kid
or something?
Mother: Uh, my son. He... We left, and he's
there.
Polka guy: If you have to
get to Chicago, we'll gladly drive you.
Mother: - You'd give me a ride? - Sure, why
not?
…
Mr. Polinski, in the scene, did sincerely want to help the
lady, but it took him too many introductory statements!
In some cases, I see consultants try to solve a problem that
is not addressing a real pain, but rather, something that they thought is
the problem. When discussing a solution with a client, I always think, “What problem/pain
am I addressing here?”. If I’m not adding a business value or fixing a real
problem, then I just polka polka!
